Secawan Bola: Two cool kits

Football kits can sometimes get quite outlandish. Usually, they seemed like a good idea at the time, and then later, armchair football commentators with nothing better to do (like me) come out of the woodwork, armed with the shield of hindsight and the sword of the latest nike line, and we denegrate these old kits as being examples of fashion faux pas. I'll do that, in due time. But today, allow me to remind you of two football kits that i thought were totally cool as a kid, and still proudly do, no matter how many people derile them as being hideous mistakes.

Holland 1988
Home, Adidas

In 1988, the orange army strode to euro glory wearing this questionable adidas number, with what can best be described as "diagonal designs" going in opposite directions with fade-in-out orange print. West Germany wore a green version at the 1990 world cup (famously in the semi-final clash with England) but it was always the orange one of Holland that stood out. I can see why it looks stupid, but the dutch players looked so cool in them. Marco van Basten looked so cool in them. And the fact that they won the euro in those kits just makes it so much more acceptable.

i remember drawing pictures of a football scene for art in school, and i drew the holland team scoring a goal, wearing this shirt. it doesn't work well in black and white pencil drawing. my teacher asked me why you could see the footballers' bones. she so didn't get it.

USA 1994
Home, Adidas

Everyone thought this was a cool top when it came out. i remember the newspapers doing a story on how it was so different from the other football kits out there. for me, at 14, i just understood it as USA not understanding what football was all about and not knowing how to do things like the europeans. nonetheless, i thought it was a cool kit.

some years back, i read a story on worst football kits, and this was in that list. i disagree. it may not be conventional, the red shorts may shock you at first, but it's actually a really cool top. from far, ie tv camera angle, they look like they're wearing grey/blue tops. up close, you see the stars. you couldn't find a more over-the-top american top, but it looks nice when they run. eric wynalda, pictured here, proves that it also looks cool when you trample on Colombians.